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The main problem with this is thunderbolt is inherently insecure... so you can end up with devices on your system that have full DMA access, and you have no idea what they are doing. USB on the other hand is mostly geared toward storage and perpherials IO.

The obvious solution is to not plug questionable shit into your computer.

So it will gain bandwidth of the current Thunderbolt 3, but also in USB Mode. Not bad.

Originally posted by USB Promoter Group

Backward compatibility with USB 3.2, USB 2.0 and Thunderbolt 3

Originally posted by Ars Technica

We would expect the USB4 specification to be essentially a superset of the Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.2 specifications, thus incorporating both the traditional USB family of protocols (up to and including the USB 3.2 Gen 2×2) and the Thunderbolt 3 protocol in a single document.

Great!

Originally posted by USB Promoter Group

Multiple data and display protocols to efficiently share the total available bandwidth over the bus

Originally posted by Ars Technica

it also enables the use of multiple data and display protocols simultaneously

Actually, this isn't great. This is AWESOME!
If I understand correctly, it would be possible to simultaneously use monitor (via DisplayPort Alternate Mode or HDMI Alternate Mode) and eGPU or at least some PCIe 3.0 1x device (via Thunderbolt Alternate Mode) from just one USB4 port.

Originally posted by Ars Technica

Currently, offering Thunderbolt 3 requires the use of an additional chip, one of Intel's Alpine Ridge or Titan Ridge Thunderbolt 3 controllers.

So far, we only had one company that was in charge of Thunderbolt: Intel. Even if we say that it was in collaboration with Apple, it was not the best situation.
Currently, we can expect that the following companies will work (or at least try to) on USB4 controllers:

Intel has previously announced that its Ice Lake platform, due to ship later this year, will integrate both Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.1 Gen 2 (aka USB 3.2 Gen 2) controllers.

Originally posted by Ars Technica

Integration into the platform means that system-builders no longer need to choose whether or not to include the extra chip; the capability will be built in, and as such, we'd expect to see it become nearly universal.

Finally, we can assume that USB4 will gain popularity that Thunderbolt 3 never achieved. It was available only in selected premium devices, and now it is possible that USB4 will become far more common, like USB 3 is today.